May 25, 2025 Rooted Wk. 5 Reconciliation and Righteousness: Breaking the Chains of Deception (2 Corinthians 5:16–21)

So while the gentlemen are handing around the offering plates,

just a reminder, we also have an online giving thing. If you would like to use

the online giving, I know for me, it's easier.

That is available. We'll put it on Facebook and on the tech thread as well.

So we started a few weeks back a series called Rooted, where we get back to

scripture and understand what it means to be rooted in God's word.

And specifically, we've been talking and studying out strongholds,

strongholds that we have in our lives and fighting.

We want to fight the way that Christ fought.

So we want to equip ourselves now with truth so that we can fight like Jesus later.

And we've been looking at a main theme verses, Deuteronomy 6,

4 through 9, where God tells us we are to love the Lord our God with all our

heart, our soul, and all our strength.

And we're supposed to put God's word constantly in front of us,

constantly digging into his word, put it as a rather regular rhythm in our lives.

We're to make God the focal point.

The world, right? The world and the evil one wants to distract us.

He wants to get us all off track.

But God wants us to be constantly, he wants to be at the forefront of our minds.

And so as we go today, we're going to be looking at some strongholds and another

area that I believe will help us in battling our strongholds.

So we want to look at strongholds versus what the Bible talks about as reconciliation.

As Paul was writing, remember, to the church at Corinth,

there was this stuff going on where people were trying to talk about Paul and

how he was not that great of a speaker,

and he was good at writing, but when he actually came in person,

he was weak, and they were looking at all the wrong things,

and all this junk was slipping into the church.

And Paul writes to them and tells them, no,

what you're actually doing, it's not just about piecing this guy against this

guy or this pastor or this elder against this elder, this apostle against this apostle.

And actually, you're fighting with the evil one.

You're fighting with the evil one, and he has strongholds. And so we looked

at what it means to fight against those and to demolish those.

And we looked at what these strongholds are, these fortifications.

These are where the evil one gets in.

And it's not just a lie, but it's what's behind that lie.

What actually creates that wrong way of thinking is the word there that's used.

And so what Paul was saying here is you need to go and you need to demolish

those strongholds or these fortifications, because those fortifications are

the things that's actually, it's this belief system that creates the lies.

And on the adverse side of it, right, it's also the belief system when it's

lined up with God, it's going to reinforce the truths of God's word and allow

that to change our lives.

And so I would like to look at three strongholds that I've heard many, many times.

And if this is a struggle for you, you are not alone.

And then we're going to go and we're going to get into scripture and how to deal with that.

I'm going to ask Ethan, if you and Garrett would hand these things out.

I'm not sure how many I have.

We have to hand them out sparingly. But there's some specific verses for these strongholds.

But the strongholds, one would be, if God really loved me, then life would be moving more smoothly.

This idea that God is not loving me, and if he were loving me,

then life would be moving much, much easier for me.

Another one is that trials.

Trials in my life mean God is mad or angry at me or with me and wants to punish me.

So the accuser of the brethren, right, Satan, Satan means what?

Remember, he is the chief adversary, the chief enemy of God's plan.

And so he's constantly trying to get inside your head, get in my head with all of these lies.

He did it to Christ. Remember when Jesus was drawn away, he did it to Christ. He did it constantly.

And he hasn't stopped.

And as an older pastor said, the evil one and his minions and the demonic world,

they've been perfecting this for thousands of years.

So if you and I think that we are somehow able to handle it by ourselves,

we're full of pride, right? We have to do it God's way.

And so God desires for us to do things his way.

So when we look at these trials, you say, oh, the trials of my life, it means God's mad at me.

Or another one that I've heard many, many, many times is that I'm just, I'm too broken.

I'm too broken to be loved. I have too many things.

I've done too many things that I regret, and they're constantly in front of my mind.

And I have all of this, these constant regrets, these things that I wish I could

go back and change, but I can't change.

And I'm just, I've gone too far.

There's no way that God could possibly love me. And that is the lie of the evil one.

So if you go in your Bible to 2 Corinthians 5, verse 16 to 21,

2 Corinthians 5:16–21

and we'll read this out, we'll read this together, and then we'll pray.

From now on, then we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective.

Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer

know him in this way. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away, and see, the new has come.

Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ,

and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

That is, in Christ,

God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against

them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us.

And here's the emphasis in verse 20. Therefore, we, Paul, and those who are

with him, we're ambassadors for Christ.

And since God is making his appeal

through us, we are pleading on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.

He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us so that in him,

we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus, I pray now this morning in this time that Our minds would just be so

focused You have allowed this This verse,

this truth This area that can demolish So many strongholds.

To work on me this week. So Jesus, I pray that you would help me to explain

that, help to proclaim it.

Jesus, we ask for your Holy Spirit now to take over and that your Holy Spirit

would make your truth come alive and that pride would be set aside.

Oh, we're okay, we're fine.

We're just coming to church. No, no, no, no. God, I pray that everyone that's

here would realize they're here for a purpose.

You knew before we ever took a breath that we'd be sitting in this place,

in the UP, on May 25th, 2025.

You knew it. Nothing happens by chance.

So God, I pray that you would let your word just wreak havoc in our lives and

they would break down these strongholds that you might be glorified.

And that's all, that we'd become more like you and that the evil one would get a kick in the teeth.

So Jesus, we pray for your power today. In Christ's name we pray, amen.

So focusing on verse 20, so that those verses that are on your sheet,

they're on the first and the front and back side.

Those are truths that you can quote back to the evil one when these lies come up.

But we want to focus on this idea of reconciliation.

I think of it more of as a stronghold, you know, as a super bomb or something

that just completely demolishes.

Because when we understand what it means to be reconciled to God,

what that means, it'll completely change your life.

It'll completely change the way you look at things, the way you look at his

word, the way you act and react.

It's so powerful to understand because it is the full story of the Bible, right?

Because mankind was self-corrupted, right?

Adam and Eve at the beginning of time, right? They were created with nothing.

There's nothing wrong. There's perfection.

And God said everything out there. And man chose.

Mankind chose to be corrupted.

Mankind made that choice. And that curse has passed on, that corruption has

passed on from the beginning of time till now.

You don't have to teach a child to get angry. You don't have to teach a child to lie.

You don't have to teach a child to do these wrong things. Nothing has to be

taught. It's within them. We're corrupted. We're born corrupted.

And so God in his amazing love, think about this, the God of creation,

man disobeyed what God said to do.

And this corruption was passed on.

This corruption, this curse was begun. And they had to be pushed out of the garden of Eden.

And now God devises a plan. And it's the only plan because it had to be done by God.

The reconciliation had to be done by God.

And so God set in motion the plan that the God-man would have to come and take your place and my place.

The God-man, the sacrificial lamb that's pictured in the Old Testament would have to come.

The perfect God-lamb would have to come.

And so that was set in motion and at the cross christ

became that's why god uses this this

picture of the lamb and he

went to the cross he went to be beaten think think

about that the the perfect lamb was loving the guy who lifted up that cat of

nine tails and was beating him the lamb loved the one who was mocking him while

he's hanging there on the cross.

He died for him. He died for the guy standing next, hanging next to him.

And what is this understanding of reconciliation? Why is it so important?

It's so massive is because you and I, we are born cursed.

We have the curse we have the the.

Sin guilt on us and the

only way that god could set right that relationship

right the relationship was only by god it had to be a perfect sacrifice it had

to be there could be no there could be no blemish and so that was christ christ

was that sacrificial lamb.

And his blood, his blood had to take what we had done and make it right.

So then when we read this verse, therefore we are ambassadors for Christ,

since God is making his appeal through us.

And this is what we plead. We plead to be reconciled, be reconciled to God.

He made the one who knew no sin for us, that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Think about that. Jesus Christ, who knew zero sin,

he knew no sin, and he was made to shed his blood, to give his blood willingly

so that you and I could be considered righteous before God.

So understanding what this word here means, it's restoring a friendly interpersonal

relationship that have been damaged or broken.

It's his disruption we at

the beginning of time when when we mankind cursed

itself and corrupted itself mankind chose

to go against god and god did not destroy and start over but instead he devised

us he had a plan and his plan was a perfect plan and it was that christ would

come and he would be a reconciliation for us.

So in essence, biblical reconciliation is about fixing this broken relationship

by addressing the cause of the break.

So think about that. When we look at this verse here and we understand what

it means to be a reconciled believer, the power that is behind that,

and the next word there is righteousness because what we have here is we have

a relationship at the beginning that was there.

God actually wanted a relationship with us.

He wanted a relationship with you, and he wanted a relationship with me.

He didn't want religion, a list of do's and don'ts.

He didn't want that. He didn't want you coming to church just to say you come to church.

No, he actually wants a relationship with you, like an intricate relationship

with you. He wants to know every part about you because he already knows every part about you.

That means how you think, how you

talk to your wife, how you talk to the cashier, how you drive, all of it.

He wants to be a part of your everyday life. And he wants to bring us back to

where we are eventually at the end of time.

And when you go to Revelation and the end there, we now have the end where sin is removed.

Have this restoration of our soul now to God, and God desires to spend time with us for eternity.

But the bulk of the Bible is that gap in between.

The beginning, no sin, man's sin, and then we have God's reconciliation plan right in the middle.

And God desires for us to be reconciled to him.

He wants us, he wants that restored relationship.

And he wants to, this is the next part here, that the one who knew zero sin chose, chose.

He willingly took the hits for you. He willingly took the hits for me.

He chose to lose his blood.

He chose to die and not stay dead, but to win over life and win over death so

that you and I don't have to.

And God did that. The God man did that so you and I could have this restored relationship.

And what this means is righteousness applied.

This is huge. So if you're falling asleep right now, wake up because you're

going to want to get this part and then we'll be done. I promise.

Okay? I know it's warm in here.

You and I don't have to worry about pleasing a holy God because there's no way

you and I could ever do it. Does it matter how many things do we do?

Does it matter how many times we go to church? Does it matter how much money

you give? It doesn't matter all of these things. There is no way that you can

do your way into pleasing a holy God. It's not possible.

When the evil one tries to say, oh, you know, dude, Shelbin,

you are, like, there's no way that God could love you because think about what you did.

Look, you are mean to your wife this week. You're this way. You're mean to your

kids. You said this. You had that thought.

You have all these things going through your mind. And you know what?

Yeah, we are becoming new, but it's not about our righteousness that makes us

okay before God, that restores our relationships.

It's all about Jesus' righteousness.

So when God looks at you, if you are a follower of Christ, if you have put your

faith and trust in Christ and you have asked him to become Lord of your life

and you repented of your sins, then guess what?

God says he willingly placed that blood on you.

So when God looks at you, he does not see you in all your jacked upness,

right? We are completely jacked up.

He doesn't see any of that, but instead he sees the Holy One, Jesus Christ.

He sees his blood, not yours, not mine.

So when the evil one sits there and tries to get inside your head and tries

to beat you up over all the things that you've done, no,

you say, no, Satan, because the truth is that the one who did not know any sin, he came for Zach.

He came for Clarissa. He came for Bill.

Even though Bill didn't ask for it, he still did it. He came for Gloria,

that everything that the evil one will throw on them and try to attack them

and try to discourage a believer or try to keep someone from coming to Christ.

Jesus chose to take on your pain. He chose to take on that.

He decided that the one who did not know any sin, he came for Zach,

he came for Bill, He claimed for Gloria. He came for Christine.

He came for every one of us.

He chose to do it.

Nothing happens by chance. And if you fall for that, then the evil one has gotten in your head.

The evil one wants to keep you the lost from Christ.

And he wants to keep the believer sidelined and distracted. Because this world

is full of distractions, right?

Think of all the distractions that are out there. Your stupid, stinking phone, right?

Constantly, da-da-da-da-da, all the stuff. All the stuff that's urgent.

The news, the Netflix or whatever, Prime or whatever.

All this distraction, all this entertainment, all this stuff, all this noise.

Facebook, TikTok, whatever, all of it.

I can't really see Dusty on TikTok, but maybe.

But all of these distractions, all of this crap that the world throws at us.

Desires for us not to know the fullness of Christ's righteousness applied to you.

The fullness of you being made right before God, because it has nothing to do with you.

Because in and of yourself, no, you're not adequate, right?

You're not adequate. And that's okay because Jesus was adequate.

And so the life that you now live in the flesh, as Paul said,

you live by faith in Christ who loved you and gave himself for you.

That's how we live. not in our own power, not our own righteousness.

Jesus, I pray today that we would take a massive truth bomb,

the strongholds that were not good enough, and that we would understand that's

not about anything that we could possibly do to satisfy a holy God. It had to be you.

It had to be you to satisfy your holiness. There was no other way.

And Jesus, thank you for choosing to step in for an idiot like me,

a selfish, undeserving moron.

Jesus, you loved each one of us that much.

Even for the one who was cursing you, your blood was shed for him.

We didn't even know we needed a Savior.

And so, Jesus, I pray that we would understand what it means to live under your righteousness.

And as believers, God, I pray that if there is, if someone in here is falling

for the lie and maybe they've never put their faith and trust in Christ and

you brought them here today to understand this truth, God, I pray that your

Holy Spirit would do the work and turn on the light.

And that my friend wouldn't just be a friend, but become a brother or sister

in Christ. that they would realize that it's not about coming to a church service.

It's not about being religious. It's not about even labeling yourself a Christian, but it's about.

Out to you and asking in forgiveness for your blood to be applied to them.

And Jesus, I pray for my sisters and brothers now. Maybe they've fallen for

the lies and they've allowed these things to dismantle them or maybe just distract

or just kind of bring them down.

God, I pray that your Holy Spirit would bring your truth and the power of your

word to annihilate these strongholds.

And Jesus, I pray, Jesus, I think we all kind of sense the end is coming close.

We don't know. I know. We don't know the time or date, but there is grumbling

out there. You can't help but see it.

So Jesus, I pray that we would get off our behinds and be ambassadors as Paul

was and plead with people to be reconciled to God.

Plead with them. Help us to learn to tell our story of this redemption,

this tell the story of how we were reconciled, how we were afar from you and

you applied your blood to us.

Jesus, I pray that we would take you and living for you seriously.

And if there's someone here today that's just kind of cruising along in their

Christian walk, maybe they're retired and just kind of cruising,

God, I pray that you would rebuke them through the power of your Holy Spirit

and realize that God didn't give us retirement to do nothing for his kingdom.

Jesus, I pray that my brothers and sisters now who have worked their behinds

off of their life and now in retirement, God, I pray that you would open up

opportunities for them to build your kingdom even more.

And you would encourage them to pour into the next generation.

You would encourage them to talk to that person in our community about you and

show them you through their actions.

So Jesus, I pray that you would work a work, that you would change us to make

us more like you, and that we would understand what it means to have that righteousness

of your righteousness applied to us.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's stand and sing our last song. .

Music.

Truth. Mike, would you close in prayer, sir?

Father, what a great service to be able to be a part of it.

To give the children's lives of life, life to the full that we live in you.

Give me acceptance of faith for reaching down to us.

All of us work to the side of the road, but all of us redeemed and holy and precious.

All of us pray all to do. As we head out into the knee, fill us with power. Amen. Have a great week.